Palm Beach County residents were asked:
Please tell us about an important moment in your life that would help someone understand what it’s like living in your neighborhood.
The stories and micro-narratives they submitted (as part of the We Are Here SenseMaker project) are listed below. Click ZOOM IN to learn more about the community member and how they interpreted their submission. NOTE: Some stories were partially transcribed by volunteers who shortened the narratives and referred to the storytellers in the third person (e.g., “her experience was” instead of “my experience was”).
This month there was a young child about 10 that was shot and killed. She was outside playing and there was a drive by which is a regular event we’re I live.It broke my heart there was no eye witnesses. This honestly has to change what happen to that young girl was tragic.
When I young living in my neighborhood was different from today. We couldn’t do the things that the young people do today. The white kids had more privilege then us blacks we couldn’t even go to the beach.
I grew up in a close knit farming community where everyone knew one another. My families origin goes back to my great grandmother migrating to the Glades from Eleuthera, Bahamas in 1897 to Pahokee. Most families traveled to the Glades seeking work.
When I was a teenager, I was the smallest kid in my neighborhood. I got beat up, pushed around and joked on all the time until I learned how to tell jokes and make everyone laugh.
Many People in the past wouldn’t understand the life I was going through my mother didn’t care for me , my farther didn’t care for me I was a problem child in and out of the detention center . I dropped out of school at the age 16 and became something these Young’s kids shouldn’t become in this world you only get one mother and one farther even if they Are not here with you. Just learn to love those who are .